s="" growing="" preference="" for="" eating="" out;="" the="" consumption="" of="" food="" and="" drink="" in="" places="" other="" than="" homes="" has="" risen="" from="" about="" 32="" percent="" total="" 1995="" to="" 35="" 2000="" is="" expected="" approach="" 38="" by="" 2005.="" this="" development="" boosting="" wholesale="" demand="" service="" segment="" 4="" 5="" a="" year="" across="" europe,="" compared="" with="" growth="" retail="" 1="" 2="" percent.="" meanwhile,="" as="" recession="" looming="" large,="" people="" are="" getting="" anxious.="" they="" tend="" keep="" tighter="" hold="" on="" their="" purse="" consider="" at="" home="" realistic="" alternative.="" [B]Retail sales of food and drink in Europe's largest markets are at a standstill, leaving European grocery retailers hungry for opportunities to grow. Most leading retailers have already tried e-commerce, with limited success, and expansion abroad. But almost all have ignored the big, profitable opportunity in their own backyard: the wholesale food and drink trade, which appears to be just the kind of market retailers need.[C]Will such variations bring about a change in the overall structure of the food and drink market? Definitely not. The functioning of the market is based on flexible trends dominated by potential buyers. In other words, it is up to the buyer, rather than the seller, to decide what to buy. At any rate, this change will ultimately be acclaimed by an ever-growing number of both domestic and international consumers, regardless of how long the current consumer pattern will take hold.[D]All in all, this clearly seems to be a market in which big retailers could profitably apply their scale, existing infrastructure and proven skills in the management of product ranges, logistics, and marketing intelligence. Retailers that master the intricacies of wholesaling in Europe may well expect to rake in substantial profits thereby. At least, that is how it looks as a whole. Closer inspection reveals important differences among the biggest national markets, especially in their customer segments and wholesale structures, as well as the competitive dynamics of individual food and drink categories. Big retailers must understand these differences before they can identify the segments of European wholesaling in which their particular abilities might unseat smaller but entrenched competitors. New skills and unfamiliar business models are needed too.[E] Despite variations in detail, wholesale markets in the countries that have been closely examined—France, Germany, Italy, and Spain—are made out of the same building blocks. Demand comes mainly from two sources: independent mom-and-pop grocery stores which, unlike large retail chains, are two small to buy straight from producers, and food service operators that cater to consumers when they don't eat at home. Such food service operators range from snack machines to large institutional catering ventures, but most of these businesses are known in the trade as “horeca”: hotels, restaurants, and cafes. Overall, Europe's wholesale market for food and drink is growing at the same sluggish pace as the retail market, but the figures, when added together, mask two opposing trends.[F] For example, wholesale food and drink sales come to $268 billion in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom in 2000—more than 40 percent of retail sales. Moreover, average overall margins are higher in wholesale than in retail; wholesale demand from the food service sector is growing quickly as more Europeans eat out more often; and changes in the competitive dynamics of this fragmented industry are at last making it feasible for wholesalers to consolidate.
[G] However, none of these requirements should deter large retailers (and even some large good producers and existing wholesalers) from trying their hand, for those that master the intricacies of wholesaling in Europe stand to reap considerable gains.
1.（ ）→ 2.（ ） → 3.（ ） → 4.（ ） →E→5.（ ）
'>[A] The first and more important is the consumer's growin
Joan: Why are you so late?Michael: （ ） I left them in the car.
A.I couldn’t find my car keys B.You know what happened? C.I didn’t catch the bus D.My car was out of order
The government will consider（ ）future actions against terrorist bombers.
A.taken B.of taking C.to take D.taking
In order to “change lives for the better” and reduce “dependency,” George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the “upfront work search” scheme. Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV, register for online job search, and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit—and then they should report weekly rather than fortnightly. What could be more reasonable?More apparent reasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseeker's allowance. “Those first few days should be spent looking for work, not looking to sign on,” he claimed. “We’re doing these things because we know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster.” Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the socially concerned chancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with “reforms” to an obviously indulgent system that demands too little effort from the newly unemployed to find work, and subsidises laziness. What motivated him, we were to understand, was his zeal for “fundamental fairness”—protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received their benefits.Losing a job is hurting: you don't skip down to the jobcentre with a song in your heart, delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state. It is financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you know that support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are
My bones have been aching again, as they often do in humid weather. They ache like history: things long done with, that still remain as pain. When the ache is bad enough it keeps me from sleeping. Every night I yearn for sleep, I strive for it; yet it flutters on ahead of me like a curtain. There are sleeping pills, of course, but the doctor has warned me against them.Last night, after what seemed hours of damp turmoil, I got up and crept slipperless down the stairs, feeling my way in the faint street light that came through the window. Once safely arrived at the bottom, I walked into the kitchen and looked around in the refrigerator. There was nothing much I wanted to eat: the remains of a bunch of celery, a blue-tinged heel of bread, a lemon going soft. I've fallen into the habits of the solitary; my meals are snatched and random. Furtive snacks, furtive treats and picnics. I made do with some peanut butter, scooped directly from the jar with a forefinger: why dirty a spoon?Standing there with the jar in one hand and my finger in my mouth, I had the feeling that someone was about to walk into the room ~ some other woman, the unseen, valid owner ~ and ask me what in hell I was doing in her kitchen. I’ve had it before, the sense that even in the course of my most legitimate and daily actions — peeling a banana, brushing my teeth ― I am trespassing.At night the house was more than ever like a stranger's. I wandered through the front room, the dining room, the parlour, hand on the wall for balance. My various possessions were floating in their own pools of shadow, denying my ownership of them. I looked them over with a burglar’s eye, deciding what might be worth the risk of stealing, what on the other hand I would leave behind. Robbers would take the obvious things ~ the silver teapot that was my grandmother’s, perhaps the hand-painted china. The television set. Nothing I really want.1.The author could not fall asleep because（ ）.2.The author did not like the food in the refrigerator because it was NOT（ ）.
A.it was too damp in the bedroom B.she had run out of sleeping pills C.she was in very poor health D.she felt very hungry
问题2：
A.fresh B.sufficient C.nutritious D.delicious
France's（ ） of nuclear testing in the South Pacific last month triggered politicaldebates and mass demonstrations.
A.assumption B.consumption C.presumption D.resumption